Today, we’ll be featuring our unsung heroes, the legal clerks. Since the beginning of the program, four law students from the University of Cincinnati have had the unique opportunity to work with our 2016 cohort. Through the Brandery Fellowship Program, these highly motivated individuals gained hands on legal experience working with our startups and legal mentorship from one of our founders, Rob McDonald. As summer comes to an end, the legal clerks will be heading back to school Monday, but it won’t be the last we see of them; they will continue to help the Brandery class of 2016 through Demo Day.

Legal Clerk Emily

My name is Emily, and I’m heading into my third and final year at UC Law. One of my biggest loves is travel, so if I hadn’t sold my soul to law school I’d probably want to be some kind of tour guide with a fancy European tour company. My plan was to hit 25 countries before age 25, but I’m only at 20 so I have some work to do. Aside from that, you’ll never meet a bigger Harry Potter fan than me.
The Brandery has been one of the most unique experiences I could ask for. The atmosphere surrounding start-up companies is just different—there is so much energy and creativity in the air. By the end of any conversation, your head is bouncing off the walls with ideas and you suddenly have the urge to start your own business. Greatest lesson learned? Get to know people who have big ideas for the world—they are the most interesting people you will ever meet, and maybe it’ll even inspire you to take your life in a new direction.
After over 20 years, I’m happy to be done with school forever come next May. I don’t want to practice law forever, but right now reaching the finish line and earning my J.D. is the main goal I have in sight. I think I can, I think I can!

Legal Clerk Brock

Brock Caley, 3L (third year) at UC Law and Computer Engineering degree from Purdue University. Hobbies are watching/playing sports (NBA, Golf, rooting for cursed and/or teams from Purdue and Cincinnati). Lifelong goal of being on Jeopardy, so I spend a lot of time watching it, playing Bar Trivia once a week, and trying to learn details about French Literature, Shakespeare, British Monarchs, and all of the other obscure jeopardy categories without spending the time to actually read them all.
I’ve loved getting to interact with the different companies at the Brandery, because we don’t get a lot of face-to-face experience with clients during law school. My favorite client interaction happened when I explained to the guys at Goodwipes what a provisional patent is, and see how excited they were to be able to utilize this legal tool that most people tend to view as a very boring subject. I want to continue working with startup companies in my career because the passion that these founders have for their products are unmatched in any other business atmosphere.
I plan on working as a patent attorney in the tech field, working with both software and hardware technologies. Because there are so many tech-focused startups, I also want to continue to help startups in the future with their Intellectual Property needs and be able to give them advice for utilizing the startup community.

Legal Clerk Luke

Greetings everyone! My name is Luke Klaiber, and this fall I’ll be starting my 3rd year at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. When I’m not buried up to my ears in law school work, you’ll likely find me rooting on the Cleveland Browns or the Columbus Blue Jackets.
My experience at the Brandery this summer has been awesome! Working with startups was a unique and rewarding experience. It’s been great getting to know the founders and their businesses and I can’t wait to see all of them kick ass on demo day.
I hope to use the many skills learned as an intern and take them forward into my legal career. One of the many lessons learned while working specifically with startups is how quickly their legal needs can change. Whether it’s making last-minute changes to an Operating Agreement, or even pivoting their business based on legal or market constraints, things are never boring and predictable.
It’s also been great getting to work in OTR this summer. As a suburbanite, there’s never enough time to explore all of the great neighborhoods that Cincinnati has to offer. OTR has definitely lived up to my expectations and I look forward to spending more time at the many bars and restaurants we’ve gotten to know over the past few months.

Legal Clerk Akua

Hi. My name is Akua Adu-Gyamfi. I am a rising 3L at the University of Cincinnati College of Law. I enjoy eating, working out and taking random naps. If I were not in law school, I would most likely be an entrepreneur of some sort. I have always enjoyed the idea of working for myself.
Working at the Brandery has been a great experience. I have learned a lot about managing client relationships. Learning to draft, understand and explain Operating Agreements to clients have been my greatest accomplishment here so far. Working at the Brandery has taught me not to be afraid to veer off a certain path to do something that I may feel is right for me (even if it doesn’t make sense to other people). Most of the founders at the Brandery had lives and careers, but they all decided to trust in their abilities, take a leap of faith and let go of those lives and careers to start businesses. For someone who wants to become an entrepreneur in the near future, that is very inspiring.
Working with startups has been really cool. They are so motivated and very hard working. Some of them barely sleep. Being around them challenges me to get my life together (haha!). After graduation, I hope to get a job in corporate law and learn as much as I can about businesses. I plan to eventually transition from law into business as an entrepreneur.